The day after Prime Minister Haidar Abadi declared victory
in Mosul there was still fighting going on in the city. The Golden Division’s
General Sami al-Aradi said
that the Iraqi forces (ISF) were clearing out the Old City looking for Islamic
State members. From reports however it appeared to be more serious than that. Air
strikes and helicopters were hitting the Qalahat neighborhood, and IS was
firing mortars
at the ISF. Gunfire and smoke could be seen coming from the district. The
premier was told that the city was liberated on July 9 only to find out that IS
still held parts of the city. He was likely informed that things were finished
leading to his address on July 10. It appears the ISF were not correct that
time as well. The different Iraqi units involved in the battle were all competing
with each other to claim they were responsible for taking the city. That led
them to claim five times that Mosul had been freed when it wasn’t. Still,
combat will not last long, probably a few more days, but it is another example
that the ISF are so prone to exaggerating their successes. The Iraqi media has
not reported the situation so the public doesn’t know what’s happening.

The Islamic State was still attacking the Iraqis in the
Qayara district in southeast Mosul as well. On July 5, IS
seized the town of Imam al-Gharbi. It also assaulted the nearby Qayara base,
which is the major transportation and logistics hub in the province.
Reinforcements arrived and the Iraqis attempted
to take back the village. The army claimed
it re-captured most of it, but it was unclear how successful they were. The
militants’ presence is a threat to the Iraqis’ rear. The fact that the
insurgents have been able to hold the town for six days now with only a minimal
force against an array of ISF units is not a good sign.

IS also launched
an operation against the Hashd in the Hatra district in western Ninewa. They
were turned back with the help of air support. This and the Imam al-Gharbi
situation showed that there are still a number of dangerous IS cells active
throughout the governorate that need to be eliminated.

When Mosul is finally secured the Iraqi forces will heard
towards Tal Afar. There is a continuing political controversy
over that town. PM Abadi reportedly told the Hashd to seize the village some
time ago, but they didn’t. In turn, the head of the Badr Organization Hadi
Amiri claimed the premier sent the Hashd to take west Ninewa instead. The pro-Iran
Hashd like Badr have been incensed that they have not been allowed to take Tal
Afar, which has a large Shiite Turkmen population, and has been an important
hub in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq from Syria. It is also not the
first time that the Hashd elements aligned with Tehran have gotten into it with
Abadi over military operations. As the war has progressed the PM has tried to
move them to a supporting role and put the ISF to the forefront to gain support
for them and his government. The Hashd are understandably resentful, which
helps explain the Tal Afar recriminations.

Amnesty International and the United Nations issued critical
comments about both the Iraqi forces and the Islamic State over their conduct
in the Mosul campaign. Amnesty
said that the Iraqi forces and Coalition violated international law with
indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilians. The ISF for example fired
huge amounts of unguided rockets, mortars and artillery into Mosul, while the
Iraqis and Coalition endangered civilians with their air strikes. The group
also said that IS continuously committed crimes against the population by using
them as human shields and executing them. The United Nations’ High Commissioner
for Human Rights made similar statements
about the Islamic State, while also stating that it had reports of collective
punishment and forced evictions of IS families, and abuses against IS members
and suspects by the ISF. All of these have been continuously reported in the
press. From the start of the battle for example, IS was herding people from
villages outside of Mosul to use them as cover for their retreat, while
carrying out mass killings. The Jadida bombing which left over 100 dead inside
Mosul, publicized the huge number of civilians that were being killed by
Coalition air power. The Iraqi police were called out several times for causing
a large number of casualties with their shelling as well. In an urban battle it
is hard to avoid killing and wounding civilians. For IS there is no excuse as
they are a brutal terrorist organization. The Iraqis and Coalition however,
could have taken much greater care, especially when they consistently said they
were trying to spare the population.

West Mosul is turning out to be a huge graveyard. Civil
Defense teams are slowly removing
the rubble, and are uncovering bodies every day. The forensic office of the
Ninewa Health Department said that 73 bodies were uncovered in one area and 39
in another. There are probably several hundred to possibly far more that will
be discovered in the coming weeks and days. Hopefully they will be recorded so
that a fuller picture of the cost of the battle will be made.

Another issue that politicians are beginning to discuss is
post-IS Ninewa. MP Karim al-Nouri from Badr called
for a government policy to deal with Sunnis in liberated areas to ensure that
IS doesn’t rise again. MP Intisar al-Jabouri who is from the province added
that the Islamic State’s ideology had to be countered. Reconciliation,
prevention, and justice are important issues for all of Iraq. Children that
grew up under IS occupation for instance, need to be purged of any dangerous
ideas they might have learned. IS families should not be punished for what a
family member did. Baghdad has nothing to offer however. That is leaving
whatever local group has power and weapons on the ground to do whatever they
want such as threatening and kicking out relatives of IS elements. With
elections due next year, it is unlikely that anything substantive will come
from the government in the foreseeable future. Given the dysfunction in Iraqi
politics it’s questionable if these will ever be dealt with in a meaningful
way.

The last issue is reconstruction, which will also be a huge
dilemma. A Ninewa councilman told the
press that 70% of west Mosul and 50% of the east were destroyed in the
fighting. According
to Civil Defense units that clear areas of rubble 65% of the buildings in the
Old City were damaged. The provincial government has a 100-day program underway
to restore water, electricity, and repair roads. This has largely been
successful in east Mosul. When it comes to larger projects however, Baghdad is
needed to provide the plans and funding. Committees are going to be formed with
the United Nations to prepare for the reconstruction. There are two expected conferences as well that will
include the U.S., IMF and World Bank to attract investment, acquire loans, and
lobby for donations. The
Atlantic had an article on how difficult it will be to get foreign companies
involved in this process. The Iraqis have not formulated any specific plans
that will ensure a return on investments, and the business environment in the
country is extremely hard with corruption, waste, and nepotism. Iraqi banks
also rarely give out loans to entrepreneurs, and the private sector has never
been developed. Ninewa will need over $1 billion for rebuilding, but it is
already looking like that will be a huge dilemma even before it starts.

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the politics, economics, security, culture and history of Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com